Social Media

Below are standard specs for leading social media that can help ensure your images appear as you intend.

More information about social media goals and standards is available from University Communications. If you have questions about UT's social media brand guidelines, contact University Communications at utsocial@utexas.edu. If you want to exchange ideas with University of Texas at Austin colleagues who are engaging with social media, subscribe to our mailing lists:

Facebook

Cover Photo: 851 x 315 px

Images smaller than these dimensions will be stretched to this larger size. You can’t upload a cover photo that’s less than 720 px wide. For sharp, crisp images, start with a canvas that’s twice the size (1,702 x 630 px). For faster load times, upload an RGB JPG file that is less than 100 kilobytes. For images with text or graphics, you may get a higher-quality result by using a PNG file.

Profile Picture: 180 x 180 px
Rectangular images will be cropped from the center of the image. When you post an update, comment or like someone else’s page, your profile picture will appear at 90 x 90 px.

App Tab Images: 111 x 74 px
If you upload an image larger than this, Facebook will scale it to 111 px wide, then crop it to 74 px tall starting from the top of the image. If you want to “tile” all three app tabs together to stitch a single image together, just remember there is an 8 px gap between each image.

Twitter

Profile Picture: 400 x 400 px
The maximum file size is 400 x 400 px, and this is what users will see when they click on your picture in your profile. When your profile picture appears next to your tweets and in the “Who To Follow” sidebar, Twitter will resize it down to 48 x 48 px. When your profile picture appears in others' timelines (because you followed or retweeted them), it will be resized to 24 x 24 px. Profile photos can be up to 100KB in any of the following formats: JPG, GIF or PNG. (Twitter does not support animated GIFs.)

Header Image: 1500 x 500 px
Twitter recommends dimensions of 1500 × 500 px to accommodate all the different devices and screen sizes used today. The maximum file size for header images in Twitter is 10MB.

Background Image: Max file size of 2MB
There isn’t a cap on the width or height of your Twitter background image, but if you make it too wide, most users won’t be able to see whatever you put on the right side. Not everyone will have their screen scaled large enough to see your background design — the narrower you make it, the more people who will see it. Ninety percent of users will see at least 78 pixels of the left side of your background image; 67 percent will see at least 204 pixels. But only 21 percent will see 284 pixels.

Shared Image: 1024 x 512 px
When you share an image on Twitter, it will appear in other people’s timelines at a maximum size of 435 x 375 px, although users will see a larger version (if available) when they click on it. The last six images you upload will also appear in the left sidebar of your profile with 90 x 90 px previews. If you’re really dedicated, you can cheat your block of preview images into a banner ad: three columns by two rows of 90 x 90 images with 3 px of separation between them.

Video Preview: 435 x 244 px
If you share a link to a video on YouTube, this is the size of the video’s preview frame that other users will see in their timelines.

YouTube

Channel Icon: 90 x 90 px

For best results upload an 800 px by 800 px image. Maximum file size is 1MB. Rectangular images will be cropped. Remember: If you want to create any separation between your channel icon and your channel artwork, you will need to include a border within your channel icon.